There, you’ll find a 46-foot-diameter sun — the center of the Community Solar System. It’s recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest scale model of our neck of the universe.

The scale factor is 99,000,000:1, spread across 6,000 square miles of central Illinois. The closet planet is Mercury, 4.8 inches in diameter and located near the playground at the RiverPlex, 0.36 miles away from the museum. Earth is 5 inches and 0.94 miles away, at Constitution Park.

Of several dwarf planets, Pluto is 0.9 inches in diameter and located 40 miles away at Good’s Furniture in Kewanee. The farthest outpost is another dwarf planet, Eris, which is 0.9 inches in diameter and located 62 miles away at Western Illinois University’s Horrabin Hall.

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For this reason, it is important that anyone considering a community solar program comparison-shop across all available offers, including rooftop options, in order to find the one that offers the best value for them.